Say it to My Face
by xMeaninglessWordsx
Summary: Emma Berkley is an ordinary 15 year old girl. With, let's not sugar coat it, so far, a pretty simple life. What happens when she moves to Tulsa and meets a certain group of greaser boys? What sort of events unfold? Who is Emma's one and only?
1. Pleased to Meet You

**A/N: This is my 5th story and 1st Outsider one! Hope you like this! :)**

**Chapter One- Pleased to Meet You**

Well. To start off, my name is Emma. Emma Berkley. I'm 15, And I just arrived in Tulsa, Oklahoma with my mom, Tracy, and my little sister of 14, Alexis. She likes to be called Alex though. I guess I'm your typical girl, well, ok, screw that. I'm not. I don't like pink, I hate skirts, and I don't often bother with makeup. When I do, it's not the kind you can see from a mile away. Well...I guess you'd have to have a pretty big face to see makeup from a mile away. But you get the gist, right? Appearance wise, I'm pretty average. Brown hair, dark brown eyes, yadda yadda. Not to hard.

The year is 1965. We're not rich, so our new house is just a quaint little dump in a quiet neighborhood. Well, so far what from I can tell it's quiet. Mom parks the car in the old, worn driveway and climbs out with a sigh. "Oh, shoot. Em honey, Im gonna need you to walk to that gas station we passed a few minutes ago and pick up one of those gallon milks."

I got out too. "Ok. Let's just get our stuff in first and settle a bit. Does Alex wanna come?" I asked, stretching my arms above my head before going to the trunk and lifting my suitcase.

"Nah, I gotta help mom." Alex said, shooting me a grin. I roll my eyes with a smile.

"Good idea sweetie." I hear mom say. Soon she's next to me, lifting out her suitcase and making her way to the door. She shifts the case to her left hand and digs our new house keys from her pocket, hobbling the rest of the way to the door.

I follow, waiting as Alex gets her stuff. You're probably wondering why my dad isn't mentioned, right? I sigh. He walked out on my mom when she was pregnant with Alex. No big. I'm really close to my mom anyways. I've been doing fine for 15 years, haven't I?

We moved because too many bad memories lingered where we used to live. We need a fresh start, a new life. I'm actually pretty excited.

I walk in as my mom opens the door, taking in the new smells and sights of everything. The first room we come up to is the living room. Popcorn ceilings, dingy walls with some old paint, and a light fixture. One chair in the corner to my left, a couch perpendicular to me. A small television was in front of the couch. It was actually kinda homey. The floors were carpet here, and it was soft underneath my now bare feet. I set my suitcase down in the couch and put on my Converse again, stretching my back. "Ok. I'm off. Are you sure all we need is milk?" I ask.

"Well, we didn't have anything planned for dinner. How about breakfast for dinner?" my mom suggests. Alex grins and nods enthusiastically. She loves it when we have breakfast for dinner.

"So, eggs and milk?" I try to confirm.

"Maybe a pair of those cheap salt and pepper shakers? The little disposable ones? And dessert..." my mom says, tapping her finger on her chin. She knows _I _love dessert. Especially chocolate.

"Should I start writing things down?" I laugh.

"Cupcakes?" mom teases with a smile. She knows I hate cupcakes but loves cake. I'm weird that way.

"Cake." I say.

"Ok. Go on, now." mom says with a wink before ushering me out of the house.

I'm glad it's still sorta light out, I don't feel like getting jumped just yet. Haha. By not yet I mean never. As I walk, I look back and forth, keeping my eyes peeled for a gas station. Haha again. Peeled eyes would be painful.

I finally spot one, a dingy little fixer upper called the DX in the middle of nowhere by its lonesome. I walk in, looking around with a sigh. I make my way to the back of the store where I see the frozen good aisle. Ok, it wasn't really an aisle, just a big fridge with a transparent door. It was filled with stuff like the cheap little Popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, eggs, sausage meant to be kept cold, blah blah. I pick up a gallon of whole milk. Then I find baked goods, and thank the Chocolate Cake Lord, there was chocolate cake. Picking one up, I remember eggs and grab a carton of those too. Arms full, I try and get to the cash register without dropping anything. It wasn't too hard. I set my stuff down and dig what little money I carried with me.

I look up, prepared to look at the damage and hand the...uh...

Oh, sorry. I got distracted. Lemme start over.

I look up, prepared to look at the damage and hand the guy some cash. I had to stop myself from smiling like an idiot. He was attractive, with dark brown almost black hair and dazzling blue eyes. He smiled at me. "That'll be $7, ma'am." he says.

I hand him a five and two singles, picking up my bags. "Thanks." I tell him.

"No problem. Hey, you don't look very familiar. Usually it's the same crowd in here. You new?"

I turn back to face him. "Actually, yeah, I just got to my house like 20 minutes ago." I chuckle.

He nods. "Cool. I'm Sodapop."

I smile, ignoring the abnormal name. He's telling me his name! Realizing I hadn't answered him yet, I say quickly; "Oh. I'm Emma. But Em or whatever works too."

He nods again, still smiling. Man he has a good smile. "I'll keep that in mind."

When he goes back to looking at his magazine, I walk out. Maybe this won't be too bad after all.

**A/N: Eee! Hope you guys liked this! Feel free to share your thoughts! Also, I need your help. Please vote between Sodapop or Two-Bit. See the poll on my profile or PM me! Thanks! :D**


	2. No Time

**A/N: I do not own the Outsiders. I only own Em and her family. Please enjoy!**

**Chapter 2- No Time**

The next morning, I got up, showered, and changed. Blue jeans, white tank top and flannel. Nothing special. I left my hair out and headed to the kitchen. "Mornin' kiddo. Alex up yet?" my mom asked, eating a bagel.

I yawned and shrugged. "I dunno. I'll go check." I made my way to Alex's room and opened the door. Underneath the white sheets was a still form. I went up and shook her shoulder. "Hey Alex. Al."

She only groaned and turned over. "Alexis!" I whisper-shouted. She begrudgingly sat up, rubbing her eyes and pushing her dirty blonde hair out of her face.

"Morning, sleeping beauty." I said, stifling giggles. She looked completely disoriented.

"Hello yourself." she mumbled, grinning.

"Mom made bagels." I told her in a sing song voice.

Alex got up completely and shuffled her way to the kitchen as fast as a tired little Alex could move herself. After we'd finished eating, mom broke the silence and said; "Y'know, it's a new town. You're going to be going to school here. You should know a few people."

I furrowed my brow and shook my head. "I don't have time. I should be helping you."

Mom scoffed. "Oh please. What I'm doing isn't that hard. I'll be fine, really. I want you two to have some fun. Meet people. I just want you home by 7 for dinner. We're doing Chinese takeout tonight."

I smiled. Chinese was my favorite kind of fast food. "Ok." I finally agreed.

When everything was settled, Alex put on her Keds and me my Converse before walking out.

"We should go to the gas station. I really want a candy bar." Alex suggested.

I shrugged. "Ok." I agreed, turning right and trying to remember where it was exactly. When we got there, Alex sighed. "Wow. It's I'm the middle of like nowhere."

I chuckled. "Yep."

We walked in and I let Alex pick out a candy bar. We went up to the cash register. It was that same guy, Sodapop! I decided to kind of wait and see if he recognized me. Probably not. Heck, with looks like that he probably had a girlfriend and wouldn't give someone like me a second chance.

As Alex handed him money, he looked up. "Hey." he said. I looked up from the tabloid cover I'd been idly staring at. "Hm?" I said dumbly.

"You're that girl I met yesterday, Emma right?" he asked.

I nodded and grinned. He did remember! "And you're Sodapop."

Alex gawked at me, incredulous. "You two know each other?" she exclaimed, shocked.

I nodded. "Guess so."

"What brings you two here?" Soda asked, putting his hands on the counter after handing Alex her change. Alex was shifting her weight and biting her lip. I could tell she liked him. She always did that when she liked someone.

"Our mom wanted us to meet a few people so we wouldn't be lost when school started or anything. Get to know the area I guess." I replied with a shrug.

He nodded. "Hey, maybe you could come over to my house. We got lotsa people you could meet." he said with a good natured grin and a wink.

Alex blushed and looked down, pretending to be disinterested.

"That'd be great! I'm bored outta my mind anyways." I agreed, nodding.

"And you're a greaser, so they'd like you. They don't take to Socs real good though." he added.

I nodded. We were definitely greasers. I didn't mind. The life of a Soc seemed boring. But I couldn't be one to judge. "Oh, this is my sister Alex." I added after a second of silence.

Alex gave a shy wave. Sodapop smiled at her. "Well, my shift doesn't really end 'till about 4, but it's never real busy on Mondays. And our boss told my buddy and I," He gestured behind him. "in the garage that we earned a day off." he said.

He went back and got his friend, who I learned was named Steve, before returning. "Let's go."

We walked out the door, Soda introducing us to Steve as we walked. And before I knew it, everything seemed ghastly familiar. "This looks like our neighborhood." Alex said.

Granted, most houses around where we lived looked the same, but I swear I'd been here before. Then it hit me that we just passed our house. "You live in this area?" I asked Soda.

He nodded, pointing to the house in front of him as he turned left. "Yep. Right here. All of our buddies come up and hang out." he explained. His house was 4 down from us. Awesome. So if we ended up befriending these guys, we could just come and visit anytime.

Soda strode in, shouting a; "Darry, I'm home!"

Alex and I followed, albeit a bit hesitantly, and looked around. The house was worn, loved, and homey. I relaxed almost right away. "Hey Pepsi-Cola. Who'd you bring with you?" the man sitting at the table asked. My guess was he was 19-20. He had a strong build and blue-green eyes. His brown hair was greased back.

"Darry," Soda started. "This is Emma and this is Alex."

Alex blushed and waved, smiling a little. I looked closer and realized there were a handful of guys here, another with dark brown hair at the table reading, one in front of the television watching what sounded like Mickey Mouse, and Steve in the kitchen.

Another sort of stood in the corner of the living room, pulling a cigarette from between his lips. A dark haired kid sat on the couch, wearing a jean jacket. His long hair prevented me from fully seeing his face and he sat still.

"Well girls, I'm Darry, Soda's older brother. That's Ponyboy," he gestured to the one reading. "Two-Bit," Darry pointed to the one watching Mickey, who looked at us and waved. He smiled mischievously and I could tell he was funny already. "Dally." The one smoking. "And Johnny." The shy looking one on the couch.

"Pleased to meet all of you guys. We just moved into town, we live a few doors down." I said. Dally couldn't look more bored out of his mind. Ponyboy was eyeing up Alex, who loved books. I guess they'd get along fine. Steve was a stuffing cake in his face, and Johnny started to look up. Soda grinned at Darry.

"Can they hang out, huh Dar?" Soda asked like a little kid begging to keep a stray puppy.

"Alright. They seem nice, unlike that chick Sylvia Dally somehow seems do fond of." Darry agreed. Dally shot him a look, and I could tell by the tone of Darry's voice it was better not to ask.

Soda walked up to us, clapping our shoulders. "Make yourselves at home, you're one of the guys now." he said, smirking.

"Thanks." I muttered sarcastically, smiling. Alex was talking to Ponyboy about goodness knows what, probably books and stuff I didn't bother with unless my kid sister wouldn't shut up about it.

I sorta got to know Johnny, who me and Soda sat on the other side of now. Soda was watching Mickey. "Yeah, I come here a lot cause my folks fight." Johnny said, sort of warily.

"It's ok. My dad walked out on my mom when she was expecting Alex." I said, smiling sadly.

We spent hours like that, me and Alex. I got to know a little bit about everyone. Why Two-Bit was called Two-Bit, where Dally came from, and so on. How Steve didn't really get along with his old man. It was pretty cool.

And it was fun. We joked and told stories, and I felt happy here. Maybe I did have time to make friends.

**A/N: Hope you guys liked that! Please R&R! If you have any suggestions, PM me! And don't forget to check on my profile and see my poll for this story! Thanks guys! :)**


	3. Movie Night

**A/N: Thank you so much ****BagelsandBroadway and Gamblers Are Never Happy**** for your reviews! :) I'm not really pleased with this chapter, but you guys would know better than I do! :) hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders.**

**Chapter 3- Movie Night**

*A Few Weeks Later*

Emma and Alexis dropped by the Curtis house, hanging out. Their mother was ecstatic that they had friends to stay with every now and then when they wanted. And she was glad they were only a few doors down and didn't have to worry about them getting jumped or anything.

Right now Alexis was talking about how glad she was about it a weekend to Johnny and Ponyboy. Emma was challenging Two-Bit to an arm wrestling match because Steve and Sodapop had been teasing her about it earlier. Was she afraid of losing? Well, a little bit. But she wasn't a pansy. Two-Bit was just bigger than her. But that wasn't gonna stop her. With a grin on her face, she placed her elbow on the table, fingers extended. She was on her knees, other arm behind her back. "Let's do this, Mathews." she said.

Two-Bit grinned back. "Alright, Berkley." he shot back cheekily.

Emma rolled her eyes and cocked an eyebrow. Two-Bit knelt down, putting his elbow on the table and clasping her hand. "Go." Steve said. Immediately Two-Bit put pressure on, and Emma could tell there was a good chance she could lose.

She pushed back nonetheless, gritting her teeth. Two-Bit smiled and laughed. Emma had a trick for arm wrestling, which usually worked against her sister and her old friends that were girls. Instead of relying purely on arm strength, she used her whole body to propel her. Right now it was just keeping her even. Two-Bit was strong.

Emma sighed. She had a last resort, and hoped he would fall for it. "Hey Two, what's red and green and goes eighty miles per hour?" she strained.

Two-Bit's face lit up. "What?"

"A frog in a blender."

At that Two-Bit started to smile, than laughed as he imagined it. His grip loosened enough for Emma to push it down, proclaiming her the winner. Soda threw his head back, smiling. "Aw Em, that's cheating." he said, looking at her.

Emma made a puppy dog face. "I don't know what you're talking about." she said before bursting into giggles. Steve shook his head. "Hey, at least she's got wits." he said with a shrug. Two-Bit stood, pushing his friend's head playfully.

"I want a rematch sometime, doll-face." he said.

"Whatever you say." Emma agreed with a grin and an eye roll.

It was starting to get dark out now, and Soda was getting bored. "Hey Darry, could we go to a movie er somethin'?" he asked after his older brother got home from work.

"Sure little buddy. Who's goin' with you?"

"I'll go." Emma volunteered. She loved movies.

"I can't. I got a date with Evie." Steve said.

"I got a school project to work on. Alex's helpin' me. Johnny left for the lot, I don't think he wants to go." Pony explained. Soda didn't bother to ask Darry, he hated movies.

"I'm gonna go to the Dingo 'n get rip roarin' drunk. I may find y'all later though." Two-Bit told them. Soda nodded.

Just then, Dally walked in. "Hey guys, what's hangin'?" he asked casually, lighting a cigarette and placing it between his lips. He crashed in Darry's chair, Darry sitting at the table instead.

"Hey Dal." Emma said. A few of the boys nodded in greeting.

"Hey Em. Wheres your little sis?"

"With Pony." she answered. Dally nodded. To be honest, Emma liked Dally. She didn't have a problem with him. He had a dry sense of humor but rarely laughed. He was always kind to her, despite some small arguments that were more for fun than anything else.

Dally liked that Emma was a fighter, and she wasn't like every other greaser girl. She understood him. All that said, they were pretty close.

Even though they've known each other for about a month. But that wasn't necessarily out of the norm. It was a reasonable amount of time for them to become close friends, right?

"Wanna come with Sodapop and I 'round town?" she asked.

Dally shrugged. "Sure. But if I split you can find me at Buck's place. I've got a fight tonight."

Emma sighed and nodded, a smile playing on her lips. He seemed to have a fight every night.

Made sense though, he's done just about everything and made someone mad one way or another. Sometimes he even picked fights with gangs like the River Kings or the Tiber Street Tigers. But most often it was one of the Shepard gang, like Tim. The two could go from breaking each other's noses to buddying around within a few hours. Looks like tonight it was another one of those times.

"Well, we can go in about a half hour or so." Soda said, sitting down on the couch.

"Ok. I'm gonna go make myself look decent." Emma said, grinning as she waved and headed out the door.

_'I think she looks fine.'_ Soda thought, but paused. _'What the-? What...oh nevermind. Who cares?'_

When Emma walked in the door, her mom was reading a book, but looked up and smiled. "Hey sweetie!"

Emma smiled. "Hey mom."

"Where ya headed?"

"To my room to change, I'm goin' to a movie with Dal and Sodapop." she explained.

"Which one are you seeing? How late will you be out?" her mom asked.

Emma chuckled. "We're not sure yet. And I don't know. I don't think Alex is coming with so you don't have to worry about that. We may hang out afterwards."

"Ok. Just be careful, kay?"

"I will mom, I promise." Emma vowed with a nod. She went into her closet and picked out skinny jeans, but couldn't decide between a plain white tank top or her favorite Coca-Cola t-shirt. She decided on her t-shirt, and kept her Converse. She left her wavy brown hair out, too lazy to bother with it at the moment, and went back to the Curtis house, throwing a 'See ya soon mom' over her shoulder.

"Hey Em." Soda said as she walked in. He still sat on the couch.

"Ready to go?" Dally sighed, shoving his hands in his trademark leather jacket.

Sodapop stood up and went for the door. "Bye Dar. Be home in a few hours." he said.

"We'll walk. It's not that far." Dally explained to Emma as he opened the door and held it.

"Fine. Thanks." Emma said with a nod as she started out the door and down the sidewalk. When both boys joined her, she sorta hung back and let them lead, still not familiar enough with the path to walk on her own.

"What movie're we seein'?" Dally asked.

Sodapop shrugged and hooked his thumbs in his jeans. "I dunno. I'm not a huge movie person." He turned to Emma.

"But you are, Pony's told me. What do _you _want to see?"_  
_

Emma blushed a little and chuckled, thankful it was dark-ish out. "I don't care. When we sneak in the back like Dal said, I'll just go see what's playing on the east side."

Soda and Dally nodded. This should prove to be an interesting night...

**A/N: Guest: Aw, thanks! :) this chapter was for you.**

**Reviews are appreciated, as always. Thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed!**


	4. Movie Night Part II

**A/N: ****Guest:**** Aw, that made my day, thanks! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders. Only my OCs.**

**Chapter 4- Movie Night Part II**

After the three friends snuck in through the back as promised, they slipped into the East theatre. "The Glory Guys" was playing, a cheesy western. Emma wasn't really one for western. So Dallas, Emma, and Soda ended up goofing off the whole time. Soda didn't mind. He didn't care for movies.

"Ok, ok," Emma breathed, catching her breath from laughing. "Who has money?"

Dally grinned. "I do." Soda replied.

"Ok, who wants popcorn? And Coke?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll take a Coke and some popcorn." Dally said, nodding towards her.

"Just Coke for me." Sodapop chimed in. Emma nodded as he handed her the money and she walked off.

At the line, she noticed a few more Socs than usual were around. She tried to keep her head down and get out as fast as possible. Just as she picked out Dally's popcorn, she felt someone shove her from behind. When she turned around, she was faced with a girl Soc, about her height. She had blonde hair and pale green eyes. "Ew, gross, Stephen I just touched that trash!" she squealed , turning to her obvious boyfriend behind her.

Emma cocked an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"You just touched my girlfriend." Stephen said in a biting tone.

"Not my fault she can't mind people's personal space." Emma shot back.

A disgruntled expression passed over e Soc girl's face. "Kristy, c'mon. Ignore her." Stephen said. Emma shot him a look and he backed off a bit.

Emma soon returned with everyone's food, and she passed Dally the change. Soda's mouth hung open. "Hey!"

Emma winked at him and got the change back from Dallas, handing it to Soda instead. "Anything exciting?" Dally asked, taking his popcorn.

"Nah, just some Socs. Nothin' big." Emma said with a shrug, sipping her Coke.

Dally nodded, lips pursed. Sodapop scoffed. "You could beat 'em up, Em." he said with a smile. Emma smiled back. After that they went back to goofing off, messing with each other. By now it was about 10, and Emma had gotten herself into another arm wrestling match after bragging to them about beating Two-Bit last time.

"She cheated, Dal." Soda said for the millionth time, grinning.

"Shh, no I didn't!" Emma insisted, grabbing Dally's hand. It was over the metal foldable theatre chair.

The match was over in the matter of a minute. Dally was the winner. "Hey, you got heart kid." he said, mussing her hair. Emma slapped his hand away with a laugh.

They joked some more, laughing loudly and having a good time. Even Dally seemed happy. A few people told them to 'cool it' and 'sit down.' They only grinned and kept on. When the movie was over, they headed out. "Let's go to the Dingo." Dally suggested.

Both Soda and Emma agreed, so they went. When they walked in, Emma was met with the smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke.

It was dim, but the neon light up beer signs were hung on every wall. Glass and cigarette butts were strewn across the floor. "I'm gonna go find a table." Sodapop said, walking off.

"I'm gonna go upstairs. I'll be back in a few minutes." Dally explained, clapping her shoulder and jogging upstairs.

Emma nodded, but now felt slightly uneasy. After a few seconds of thinking what _she _should do, she felt an arm slip around her waist before seeing someone in front of her. It was a man, obviously drunk.

"Hey doll." he rasped, a lopsided smile on his face.

"Uh, whatever you want, no thanks." Emma said, trying to back away. Instead he just gripped her arms tighter.

"No, no, don't go. C'mon, let's dance."

"I said no thanks." she said, voice firm. She yanked herself out of his grip.

After arguing some, Emma spotted Dally clomping down the stairs out of the corner of her eye. As soon as he saw her, he deliberately walked right up to the man and spun him around, shoving his shoulder. "Hey." he said, brow furrowed in anger.

The man stumbled back few steps, hands up in surrender. Dally put an arm around Emma's shoulder comfortingly and protectively and led her away, back to Soda. "I'm sorry." he said. Emma shrugged, but she was a little shaken. "It's ok." she assured him.

"No it isn't, I should've been there."

Emma shook her head. "No, I should've gone with Sodapop. I wasn't using my head." she said, kinda mad at herself.

"C'mon doll face, let's sit down. Ya hungry?" he said in a lighter tone, trying to lighten the mood.

Emma sighed and leaned on him, nodding. She was glad for his support.

When they got to the table, Sodapop had ordered them a small meal he knew they all liked. A small plate of fries.

"Eating healthy I see." Emma offered with a weak smile. Sodapop grinned.

"Hey, what's this to chocolate cake on a daily basis?" he said with a shrug. They ate most of it before ditching it and making their way to the vacant lot. "Wonder what time it is." Emma sighed.

Dally shrugged, lighting a cigarette. Emma shivered a little and wished she'd have brought a jacket. It was pretty early in spring and was cold at night. Seeing this, Dally shrugged off his leather jacket. He placed it around her with a small smile. Emma nodded in thanks to him. _'Cliche, but sweet. He's really a good guy underneath everything.'_ she thought.

Soda jammed his hands in his pockets. "What now?" They had settled at the old jungle gym and silence settled over them. Until he spoke.

"I dunno. I may have to go home soon so my mom doesn't freak out. Should we go back and see if Alex is still there?" Emma asked, hugging the jacket to her. It smelled like smoke and Dally.

Sodapop nodded. "Sure. I doubt Darry's asleep yet anyways since I'm still out." They headed to his house and walked in, looking around. Darry was in his chair, reading the paper. When he saw the threesome, he stood. "Hey little buddy. Where ya been?"

Soda sighed and smiled, waving. "Went to the Nightly Double, then the Dingo."

Darry frowned a little bit. "With Em?"

Emma grinned sheepishly. "She was fine, man." Dally assured him, taking a drag on his cigarette. Sodapop nodded in agreement.

Darry sighed. "Alright. Whatcha come back for?"

"I think we're clockin' in for the night. Oh, is Alex here?" Emma piped up, looking around.

"No, she went back to your house."

Emma nodded. "Well, I'm gonna go. See you guys tomorrow." she said, smiling and handing Dally's coat back with a 'thank you.'

"Oh, I'll walk her home." Sodapop volunteered after snapping out of his daze. When they got out the door, Emma sighed.

"Thanks Pepsi Cola." she said, smiling at him.

He grinned back. "No problem. Dally told me what happened. I'm sorry."

Emma three her head back and laughed. "Why are you guys so worried? It's sweet, but I'm fine, I promise." she assured him.

Soda laughed himself. "Ok. Good." By now Emma was at her door.

"Night." she said. Soda waved as he made his way down the steps.

"Night."

**A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this! Thanks!**


End file.
